How one year has whizzed by... The journey to the hills is long over but my heart still pines for it…  To somewhat satiate this hunger of mine, please allow me to paste a few captures, in a short series form, from the just concluded virtual char dham yatra of ours...

Amid these few photographs from our mountain journey and the accompanying soothing words by some great men, I hope you will find for yourself the same amount of peace and serenity that I had found while I was actually there...

You will find something more in woods than in books. 
Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters. - St. Bernard

A tree in one of the Rishikesh Temples along the Haridwar Highway
Huge pine trees in the Garhwal Himalayas, Uttarakhand

Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world. - John Muir

Scenary on the Rishikesh-Haridwar Highway

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Huge pine trees in the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand

Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.
- Rabindranath Tagore

A tree shrub in the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand

The trees are God's great alphabet:
With them He writes in shining green
Across the world His thoughts serene.- Leonora Speyer

Nature view in the Garhwal Himalayas, Uttarakhand
Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.
- Albert Schweitzer quote

A huge tree in the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand
A tree stands tall on the Char Dham route in the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand

A woodland in full color is awesome as a forest fire, in magnitude at least, but a single tree is like a dancing tongue of flame to warm the heart.
- Hal Borland

Tree Patterns in different hues and shades in the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings,
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.- John Muir

A single flower blooms in Mana Village in the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand

Rivers and rocks and trees have always been talking to us,
but we've forgotten how to listen. - Michael Roads

Tree Patterns in the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand

You must not know too much or be too precise or scientific about birds and trees and flowers and watercraft; a certain free-margin, and even vagueness - ignorance, credulity - helps your enjoyment of these things.
- Walt Whitman

Pine tree in the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand

I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do.- John Muir

Nature with trees and mountains in the backdrop in the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand

In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful. - Alice Walker